


Jigsaw

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-28
Updated: 2010-12-28
Packaged: 2017-10-14 04:31:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/145393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oh, summaries feel so silly to write! In any case, it's partially about the tribulations which Kanaya finds out are associated with her powers. Also about friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jigsaw

The flighty, snarky broad Rose materialized in Kanaya's room with the transportalizer's familiar blip. The room's occupant herself was lying on her bed, breathing soundlessly, eyes half-closed as if after some titanic struggle. This added but another layer of concern on top of Rose's frustration cake already in place.

"Kanaya, we need to talk. To talk seriously."

Wearily, Kanaya turned her head vaguely in Rose's direction, seemingly half-dreaming. She did not respond.

Rose went on, "I am sure you know what brings me here. Technically, I'm here to ask about what have you done with my magic book. But there is more to the matter. My-- _our_ main concern is something of which your petty larceny is but a single symptom; I am talking of a much grander problem. I don't have to specify what I'm talking about, I hope."

"Ungh..." With some difficulty, Kanaya awkwardly lifted herself up to a sitting position. "Nice of you... to come here, Rose."

Rose's concern rose. "...Are you okay?" _No, she isn't. She looks as if intoxicated._

"...Yes. Do not mind me. I will be okay. Why'd you come?"

"Let me begin with the facts. You entered my room a few hours ago, long before the early morning--or what passes as one in this timeless void--without invitation, cleaned up while I was asleep, and as if that was not already creepy enough, you have filched one of my books on the thaumaturgic arts."

"I don't know why you accuse me. It could be anyone. Why would I be interested in your macabre books at all? Maybe you should look around your room. Perhaps it is there, behind or under furniture."

"Why indeed. It is one of the questions I have prepared for you. Considering that you left no nook or cranny in my room unswept, it's pretty obvious that the book isn't collecting dust in some faraway corner thereof. It was there when I went to sleep, it was missing when I woke up to the disturbing orderliness."

"I am pretty sure you are more upset than you need to be. No thievery has happened."

This was most nonplussing for Rose. Even her therapeutic skills were not up to an impromptu psychoanalysis right now, especially since she was hardly an expert on xenopsychology. All she had was speculation. _Is she lying? Even though she perfectly knows that it's impossible for me to believe her? Or maybe she really was not aware of her own actions? Did... did it go so far already?_

So far already, indeed.

The Space domain was, on one hand, a boon, of course. Topological awareness approximating perfection; intuition nearing clairvoyance. Kanaya instinctively knew her way around everywhere, could find anything lost. And, less practically but spectacularly, could solve 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles within minutes. But, over time, the negative side-effects also became more pronounced, and bloomed to downright worrying levels lately.

What began as but an occasional quirk developed into an overwhelming obsession with tidiness.

She instictively moved things around on desks to make their arrangement more neat, and reorganized randomly scattered objects into some basic patterns. She must have thoroughly reordered her bookshelf at least a sixty times, making sure all the book spines line up exactly. During meals she carefully moved cutlery to render it completely perpendicular to the table edge.

She was the one who rose most early, and dusted furniture and cleaned up junk tirelessly while others slept.

She was quick at cleaning up, since she intuitively knew the one proper place where every object should be carried off to, but her effectiveness did nothing to rectify the fact that her habits were way past unnerving. They aggravated the other trolls and the humans and were, by now, outright debilitating for her. (Just a few days ago, during lunch, when Karkat excused himself and left the table for a minute, Kanaya habitually began to move the food around his plate to form ideal rings, and only stopped when the others verbally expressed surprise. Her face was a graven image of embarrassment.)

And now, it seemed that the orderliness demon was possessing her even more brutally than before. (Those who knew her well recalled that she showed similar mild compulsions even before the entire Sgrub affair. It might have been from these that the current affliction sprouted. That would explain why Jade avoided such calamity.)

"Kanaya, look. You know very well that you have a problem. It is affecting both you and us negatively. Stop trying to delude yourself, because it's doing nothing to help. Your compulsions are steadily getting worse. Now that they have passed a certain threshold--driven you to violation of privacy and to thievery, we must act. Help you, even against your own will."

"Help me?" That seemed to rouse the Sylph somewhat. "I appreciate the concern but I wonder how. Assuming I do need any outside help."

"We will do our best to help you through therapy. I am quite good at psychiatry. Terezi has her Mind abilities. And, if direct intervention is needed, we might employ Vriska's mind control powers. Don't sulk. I know you have some sort of an inscrutable grudge against her--"

"Not a grudge." Kanaya's voice went back to tired. "She just... brings back unpleasant memories."

"In any case, I shall get down to scheduling our therapy sessions."

"Wait. Before you proceed to do anything hasty. What makes you think I am a thief? I have taken the book, I admit. But I never intended to keep it. There it is. On the bookshelf. Hidden behind that pile of _Young Rainbow_ series." Now she seemed reinvigorated again.

"Huh." Rose retrieved her possession gingerly. "Thanks... I guess. But I still fail to understand what were you looking for among this eldritch knowledge. Or did you just--let's not euphemize--steal it to keep it away from me? Considering your concern over the supposed wicked sway this thaumaturgical lore holds over me."

"Not really. I borrowed it to make use of the knowledge within. To learn a specific spell or two I needed."

An eyebrow, raised. "What for?"

"To make appropriate use of this." Kanaya tiredly stood up for the first time in their conversation, reached behind her bed and, grimacing from exertion, lifted a never-before-seen weapon. It had the general semblance of a chainsaw--but it was decorated with obscure runes and inscriptions, and its blade lacked separate teeth; and it radiated immaterial, serene light, as if bleeding soft blue silk. The entire contraption was subtly meandering in shape.

Purple eyes now went wide. "And what is _that?_ "

"The alchemiter called this a 'Incanchainsaw'. An unelegant name if I ever saw one. In any case, it is what I used to perform the magic. It is a combination of that pointless wand made for Eridan, and one of my own tools. I needed to make it this way, for that is the only kind of equipment my strife specibus will let me use. By the way, it can be also collapsed into a more... practical form." Rose blinked once, and the device was gone; instead, Kanaya held a radiant tube of lipstick.

"I still don't understand what would inspire you to dabble in dark sorcery. And did you even manage to accomplish anything magical within these few hours?"

"Did I?" Now Kan was downright conceited. "Did I, indeed! Listen." With force surprising considering her fatigue, she suddenly grabbed Rose by the elbows and looked straight into her eyes. When she spoke, her voice trembled. "I was called in the middle of the night by the voice within me--the one which had been directing me before, which had been telling me to restore spatial order all around in the manner you all found insufferable. It was this voice, now mightier than ever, which directed me specifically to your room, and to that one book, with which I absconded into my quarters. And even though my knowledge of such witchcraft as yours was nil, yet, as I read and tried to comprehend and learn, the same voice whispered to me advice, tutored me throughout, and lent me miraculously quick the expertise I required."

"What is going on with you? Required for _what_! You're being too enigmatic! What is this mysterious magical project you keep alluding to? My God... does it have something to do with your obsessions? What did you do!"

"You'll see. Inevitably, you will all see, probably within minutes now." Now she was calm again, and pulled away.

And just then, a message blared through the seldom used PA system.

"EVERYBODY GET IN THE MAIN ROOM!" Karkat's voice was unmistakably crabby as ever, especially when filtered through the speakers. "SOMETHING BLEEDIN' WEIRD JUST HAPPENED, AND I DO HAVE AN IDEA WHO THE HELL IS RESPONSIBLE. YOU GUESSED IT, KANAYA, I MEAN YOU. YOU'VE GOT SOME BIG-TIME GODDAMN EXPLAINING TO DO."

"Exactly." Kanaya seemed entirely unfazed. "To be frank, I am a little surprised it took them so long to take a look outside the lab and see my handiwork."

Undefined fear began rising within Rose. "What have you done that nobody saw until now?"

"Nothing dangerous. Nothing malicious. More like a gift. Let's go outside, together; I'll show you. Karkat's fury-filled meeting can wait."

***

"Is that--"

In the blackness of the ruined Medium, a single bluish-green sphere hung in the distance.

"My Land," Kanaya explained. "Of Rays and of..." She went silent, and stayed such for a long while. "...The Demon smashed it into a billion pieces. It was a chore to piece it all together. But it was easy with guidance. It was like a giant jigsaw puzzle."

"A puzzle of cosmic proportions..." Rose whispered. "I see this, but cannot believe you managed to do this."

"I could only barely believe it myself. But I have accomplished it, god-tier or not. Remember the spell you used to disassemble that turtle temple? I have used a reverse version of it. It allowed me to grab every one of these scattered world-shards... many tinier than a grain of sand, some large like hills... and mentally move each back into the one place where I knew it belonged."

"It must have been unbelievably exerting."

"And it was. Especially since I was rushing it, not wanting any of you to wake up and stop me before I was finished. I have used every bit of energy I could find in my echeladder-topping body... And all the energy I could find by tapping into my Space powers. Because they always felt like something external, you know? Not really within me. In fact, I think I fainted once or twice... and yet kept on collecting the planetary debris, even in unconsciousness."

Both still looking at the distant world, Kanaya reached out and gripped her friend by the hand. She kept on talking.

"And while we're at it... As I said, I strained myself far beyond what I thought was possible. I'm still very tired. But the Space powers... That huge undertaking was their farewell."

"They're... gone?"

"All of them. In a way, I've used them all up beyond regeneration. And it feels a little empty and sad. But it is also a relief. Only now I slowly realize just how abnormally I was behaving; it felt so natural and obvious that 'proper order' must be restored at every opportunity. But now I feel I'm back to normal. And I have left behind this nice, planet-sized gift. If anything, I would say it was worth it."

"A gift which is, I presume, meant for me."

"Yes." Now Kanaya was outright smiling. Widely. "I mentioned that it was sort of a hunch from outside which made me grab your book and cast the spell. But the idea was something of my own. You had been expressing interest in my Land and mentioned that it's a pity you never got to see it. I have sometimes day-dreamt about how it would be if I somehow managed to get it back. How satisfying it would be to show you around. I guess my desires were answered."

"So, we are going on a trip there?" Rose finally joined in on the smiling.

"As soon as I'm in shape. For now, it is time to prepare for these big-time goddamn explanations expected from me."

Among the inky space, the Land's rays shined and jutted out, lending it the semblance of a star.

**Author's Note:**

> Ugh I'm kinda dissatisfied with this, it feels so clumsy. Still, these two are fun to write for because then I can get away with purple prose.


End file.
